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8fest reviews art of the narrow filmstrip

The 8fest presents a wealth of new and old works.

By JASON ANDERSONSpecial to the Star

Fri., Jan. 29, 2016

8fest: As cinema becomes ever more digital in its second century, the medium’s celluloid-based past becomes increasingly precious. That’s true not only of film’s 35mm and Tarantino-endorsed 70mm incarnations but the smaller-gauge formats that traditionally were (and remain) the domain of many adventurous talents, as well as countless amateurs who used their cameras to record their own lives.

Now in its ninth year, the 8fest presents a wealth of new and old works that could only have been realized on these narrow strips of film. The latest edition — which runs Jan. 29-31 at the SPK Polish Combatants Hall (206 Beverley St.) — includes six screenings, an artist talk and a Super 8 workshop with John Porter, whose recent book of photographs CineScenes documents Toronto’s rich history of fringe-film activity. (It’s included in a special offer combo with a festival pass.)

Among the other programs are a spotlight on local artist and filmmaker Keith Lock (Jan. 29 at 9 p.m.) and a survey of feminist erotica on Super 8 (Jan. 30 at 9 p.m.). As for the marvels captured by amateurs, a home-movie program presents rare footage shot by a Vancouver family visiting the Chinese region of Guangzhou in the late 1940s and by an American serviceman during the early years of the Korean War. It plays Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. before the 8fest wraps up with a final spate of shorts by Porter, Guillermina Buzio and many more artists loyal to old-school movie-making.

Oscar Shorts: Criminally underexposed outside the festival circuit, short films and their makers certainly get a big boost thanks to the Oscars every year. All 10 nominees in the live-action and animation categories screen at TIFF Bell Lightbox starting Jan. 29. Highlights among the live-action fare include Everything Will Be Okay, an emotionally wrenching piece by Germany’s Patrick Vollrath about a father’s desperate act, and Stutterer, a charmer by Ireland’s Benjamin Cleary about a young man’s determination to not let a speech impediment impede a romance. As for the animated selection, the absolute must-see is Don Hertzfeldt’s ingenious World of Tomorrow, but of course, you should see the rest, too.

The Fear of 13 at Doc Soup: Hot Docs’ monthly Doc Soup series returns with the Canadian premiere of one of the most unconventional works of non-fiction filmmaking to debut in the last year. British director David Sington leaves audiences guessing what exactly they should believe in the story spun by The Fear of 13’s sole speaker and subject: Nick Yarris, a convicted killer who recounts his life in and out of prison when not explaining his request for his execution. Sington may be a little more forthcoming than his film is about what’s staged, speculative and true when he does Q&As after The Fear of 13’s three screenings on Feb. 3 and 4 at the Bloor.

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JeruZalem: The sibling filmmaker team of Doron and Yoav Paz were probably right to suspect that officials would object to the shooting of a biblically themed, found-footage thriller at some of the Holy City’s holiest sites. That’s why they pretended they were making a documentary when they applied for their location permits — no one needed to know they’d be adding zombie extras, right? In any case, the Paz brothers’ act of subterfuge was key to the creation of JeruZalem, a breakout hit on the genre-film circuit that opens at the Carlton on Jan. 29.

An Afternoon With Virginia Woolf: The Revue Cinema transforms itself into a literary salon for the latest edition of its Extraordinary Women Series this weekend. Titled An Afternoon with Virginia Woolf, the event on Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. explores the life and work of the great of modernist lit via a presentation of the doc The War Within: A Portrait of Virginia Woolf and a talk by scholar Janice Kulyk Keefer. Woolf neophytes who want to go deeper into the oeuvre can also join Keefer for two more lectures at the High Park Library on Feb. 25 and March 17.

Seijun Suzuki: One of Japanese cinema’s greatest renegades provides TIFF Bell Lightbox’s winter program with many of its wildest moments. Presented under the appropriate title of Action, Anarchy and Audacity, TIFF’s 12-film retrospective of Seijun Suzuki launches Jan. 30 at 9 p.m. with Story of a Prostitute, a searing 1965 drama that establishes the director’s eagerness to shock and awe. The series also includes the two deliriously weird crime flicks that established his cult following in the west: Tokyo Drifter (March 10 at 9 p.m.) and Branded to Kill (March 12 at 8:45 p.m.).

Kung Fu Fridays: Returning to the Royal’s big screen — where the series first made its home all the way back in 2000 — Kung Fu Fridays springs back into action with a rare screening of a big favourite for programmer Colin Geddes. Made in 1978 by Jackie Chan and legendary action choreographer and director Yuen Poo-wing just before they teamed up on the more famous Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow will deliver all the thrills that KFF vets could ever demand when it plays Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. after the customary hour of pre-show trailers and hijinks.

In brief

An Academy Award nominee for best animated feature by Brazil’s Alê Abreu, Boy and the World continues its run at the Lightbox this week.

Hollywood has rarely made a better sports comedy than White Men Can’t Jump, which is why it deserves a screening at the Lightbox on Jan. 29 at 9:15 p.m.

A science-fiction comedy by the American comedy team Rooster Teeth, Lazer Team starts a run at the Carlton on Jan. 29.

The Bloor and POV magazine’s hard-hitting Cinema Politica series presents A Syrian Love Story with the filmmaker and subject in attendance on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m.

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